Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books (mostly)

The Problem With A Calling

The Problem With A Calling

The problem with a calling is that a calling – is just that.

Something done on a higher plain.

See, a calling can take precedent over things that you may care about more.

What do I mean?

You might rather be a security guard at a large corporate office (with AC and benefits) – but you might be called to protect an orphanage in Iraq.

You may prefer to watch TV or play with your children on Wednesday nights – but you might be called to teach a class at church.

And you might rather sit at home and read – but you might be called to a job you would rather avoid.

Don’t get me wrong. You have to follow your calling.

It’s the only way to find yourself (and find God too).

But there are plenty of other things we would rather be doing, aren’t there?

Understand: This is about sacrifice.

Neurosurgery is really hard work, and no one would have faulted me for not going back. (People often ask if it is a calling, and my answer is always yes. You can’t see it as a job, because if it’s a job, it’s one of the worst jobs there is.) A couple of my professors actively discouraged the idea: “Shouldn’t you be spending time with your family?” (“ Shouldn’t you?” I wondered. I was making the decision to do this work because this work, to me, was a sacred thing.)

-Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air (Amazon)

Professionalize A Passion

Professionalize A Passion

So, a warning here to be careful when you professionalize a passion.

I get it.

I mean, I find writing a blog post here and there relaxing, informative, and creative.

But what if it was my job? What if I “had” to do it?

What if I were suddenly on the hook for 12 posts per day, seven days a week. Would it be as fun?

But let’s be encouraged here.

And. One day. If you do somehow get paid for your hobby. Keep it light! Keep it fun.

Because if it’s not fun for you – you will quit – eventually.

And life is too big in other areas to give up the little things that we love.

Find something they can’t suck the joy out of.

Maybe we should let a hobby be a hobby? And let work – be work?

I sometimes think my lassitude in relation to film is—weirdly—from doing too much reviewing as a young literary man of all work. I reviewed so much fiction that I lost my passion for it, and the same might be said for movies. I once saw more than a dozen on a single weekend in Times Square. But it was writing scripts—good, bad, and indifferent—that dulled the edge of my attraction to movies. Best not to professionalize a passion, as lovers the world over have discovered when they marry and notice a cooling.

-Larry McMurtry, Hollywood (Amazon)

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